“I think it would have a negative impact on all confection companies [in the state],” said Pierson Clair, CEO of Tacoma-based Brown & Haley, which has been making Almond Roca since 1923. “It’s a point of silliness. To name [Aplets & Cotlets as state candy] makes you silly.”

Clair is not alone. Even an editorial writer for The Wenatchee World, a paper down the road from Cashmere, where Aplets & Cotlets are made, has rejected Armstrong’s bill.

Obviously, making Aplets & Cotlets the state candy wouldn’t hurt all confection companies. Clair is not being altruistic. It would help Aplets & Cotlets and possibly hurt Almond Roca. Tourists would snatch up anything with the “Official State Candy” label. I can’t blame Clair for being upset.

According to Armstrong, a Chehalis Middle School class came up with this bill as a civics exercise and submitted it to him. He thought it would be “a good thing to break from the normal stuff that goes on” in the legislature.

“I wasn’t trying to go out and do anything in ill will to another candy,” he told me.

And yes, I did check the Public Disclosure website for any political contributions from Liberty Orchards or organizations affiliated with the company. It looks like Armstrong’s hands are clean.

For those unfamiliar with the candies, Aplets & Cotlets are a fruit-based candy based on Turkish Delight. Aplets are made with apple, and Cotlets with apricot. They come together in a very mail-orderish looking box, Aplets on one side, Cotlets on the other. Imagine a cube of thick, rich fruit gelatin, with a more natural flavor, mixed with walnuts and dusted with cornstarch and confectioner’s sugar. It’s unclear when Aplets & Cotlets first appeared. The Liberty Orchards website suggests it happened during the 1930s and 40s.

Almond Roca is brittle-toffee type candy, made by cooking together butter, vanilla, sugar and almonds, cutting it into bite-sized pieces and coating those pieces with chocolate and nuts. The coating is done with an enrobing machine, which allows the entire piece to be covered, including the bottom. Roca is individually wrapped with foil and sold in a trademark, classic pink tin.

I had never tasted Aplets & Cotlets before I heard about this measure. I’ve lived in this state for almost ten years, and I never came across them. But people who grew up in this state have their memories.

“We didn’t have much candy,” said Anne, one of the neighbors I recruited for a taste test between the two. “This was kind of sort of ‘candy’ growing up…and carob.”

Wow. I’m sure no candy-maker wants his product mentioned in the same breath as carob. But that’s the funny thing about Aplets & Cotlets. People I talked to wanted to endorse them because they’re fruity and seem more healthy, but in the end, they mostly preferred the Roca.

My neighbor Angela, who comes from Colombia, had never had either. Her architectural training came through as she scrutinized the packaging and presentation.

“The peel is important,” she said of the Roca’s foil wrapping. “It’s nice you can open your candy. [Aplets & Cotlets] doesn’t have the magic.”

She also pointed out that with the Roca tin, you don’t know how much you are getting, like a cookie jar, giving you more of a feeling of abundance, whereas the Aplets & Cotlets molded tray
presents you with a finite count.

My neighbor Lara also preferred Roca overall, but she said she would choose Cotlets over Aplets. I would agree. As my girlfriend Kristin noted, the Aplets have more of a “chemical taste.” I would agree. There was something off about the Aplets. I have to say, Cotlets are pretty tasty. They have more a richness, and as Lara said, the apricot flavor “blends better” with the nuts. Lara’s sister Kristina said she prefers Prosser-based Chukar Cherries. Again, the “natural” factor played a key role.

I think some people feel guilt around candy…

Aplets & Cotlets, together at last

Overall, nobody I spoke with got as heated up as Pierson Clair. If anything, they were incredulous that the legislature would even debate this. Trust me, they can always find a way to waste time in Olympia. As the title suggests, we already have a state tartan, or plaid.

Washington is relatively restrained when it comes to symbols. I couldn’t find any other state with an official candy, but check out what some other state legislatures came up with as the country headed toward economic collapse:

-Massachusetts: state cookie, chocolate chip, and a state dessert, Boston cream pie.

-Alabama: state spirit, which is a recreation of a bootleg whiskey, something that was made in defiance of the law!

Based on my search, which wasn’t comprehensive, Alabama had the only trademarked food product among its state symbols. But some states went crazy in other ways, like Georgia, with its “state folk life play,” and New Hampshire, with nine — count them — nine state songs. Nine!

Given all this, we have enough state symbols. As Clair said, it is silly. But if we’re going to do the candy, I think we should nominate a state sushi roll. Of course, California rolls are out.